tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4091380352617007942023-11-15T09:35:04.589-08:00Bay Area Filmmaking resourcesBrucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778422629718278471noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-409138035261700794.post-11619262363754207442014-01-12T11:22:00.001-08:002014-01-12T13:47:20.682-08:00Welcome to BayAreaFilmThis mini-site represents an initial effort to create a list of movie and filmmaking resources in the San Francisco Bay Area, with an emphasis on resources useful for the hobbyist and small-budget professional. I started this site out of frustration with my inability to find a unified source of information about the various short film production groups that operate in northern California.<br />
<br />
This site will maintain one page for each resource type, with an index here on this main page.<br />
<br />
Individual resource pages (planned or written):<br />
- <a href="http://bayareafilm.blogspot.com/2014/01/filmmaking-groups-san-francisco-bay-area.html">Filmmaking groups in the San Francisco Bay Area</a> <br />
- <a href="http://bayareafilm.blogspot.com/2014/01/other-groups-single-subject-or-non.html">Single-subject or non-production groups</a> <br />
- <a href="http://bayareafilm.blogspot.com/2014/01/training-and-classes.html">Training and classes</a> <br />
- Meta: <a href="http://bayareafilm.blogspot.com/2014/01/other-resource-pages.html">Other resource pages</a><br />
<br />
I don't presently have plans to create resource pages for these categories:<br />
- Commercial production service firms (see <a href="http://www.reeldirectory.com/">reeldirectory</a> instead). <br />
- Film festivals (too many to list, though <a href="http://www.sfmission.com/sf_film_festivals.htm">SFmission has tried</a> ; also see the <a href="http://www.sjsff.com/">San Jose Short Film Festival</a>).Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778422629718278471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-409138035261700794.post-83276166408645978982014-01-12T11:00:00.000-08:002014-01-17T16:45:56.562-08:00Filmmaking groups - San Francisco Bay Area<span style="font-size: large;"><b>1. Scarycow</b></span><br />
<br />
Their self-description:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">"Scary Cow is a film co-op in the San Francisco Bay Area. Open to
everyone of any skill level, Scary Cow’s mission is to build a film
community that actively learns to make better films <i>by making film</i>s.
Scary Cow is run by its members and any revenue Scary Cow receives goes
back out to its members in the form of screenings, budgets, classes,
and more. We’ve made over 200 films and have given out well over
$150,000 in budgets since we started in 2007."</span></blockquote>
Scarycow members make short films which are then shown at a recurring screening event at a San Francisco theater. Scarycow charges an annual membership fee of approximately $600, which it uses primarily to feed back into awards given to participating filmmakers. The organization maintains a talent pool database. Most Scarycow events take place in San Francisco.<br />
<br />
Web site: <a href="http://scarycow.com/">scarycow.com</a><br />
Related sites: <a href="http://facebook.com/scarycow">facebook.com/scarycow</a> , <a href="http://twitter.com/scarycow">twitter.com/scarycow</a> <br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>2. Movie Making Throughout the Bay (MMTB)</b></span><br />
<br />
Their self-description:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">"MMTB is a community that meets every second Saturday once a month except
during the winter months November & December. Locations can vary
throughout the Bay Area. We are randomly placed into groups/teams which
consist of a Director, Actors, Writer and Production Assistants. Each
group is given at least 5 hours to collaborate on an ideal/story and
complete filming on the same day. After filming Directors or Editors
have at least a month and a half to submit a finish product for
screening in a bay area theater hosted by MMTB."</span></blockquote>
MMTB's core events are their monthly second-Saturday one-day film creation events ("director's challenge") which skip preproduction, jump directly into production, and create short films which are later shown in a theater in Berkeley. They also organize "<a href="http://moviemakingbay.com/events/an-mmtb-bay-area-new-producers-challenge-due-march-3rd/">producer's challenges</a>", in which short film producers have 3 months to build a filmmaking team and go from concept to finished film. Participation fees are nominal, and no experience is required to show up and act in a short film at second-Saturday event.<br />
<br />
Web site: <a href="http://moviemakingbay.com/">moviemakingbay.com</a><br />
Related sites: <a href="http://facebook.com/MovieMakingBay">facebook.com/MovieMakingBay</a> , <a href="http://twitter.com/mmtbnews">twitter.com/mmtbnews</a> , <a href="http://linkedin.com/groups/MMTB-Movie-Making-Throughout-Bay-3984507">linkedin.com/groups/MMTB-Movie-Making-Throughout-Bay-3984507</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>3. The Film Clubs: San Jose, San Franciso, Santa Cruz, Berkeley, Carmel, Monterey</b></span><br />
<br />
Their self-description:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<h3 dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 8pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">"The goal of The Film Clubs is to set up an environment </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">that</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> help</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">s</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> filmmakers finish their projects by going through all the necessary stages from Development to Pre-Production, Production, Post-Production</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">,</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> and finally Marketing & Distribution.</span></span></h3>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.4; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">We also have R&R Nights to go to the movies and have a good time as well as field trips to practice shooting in unique locations."</span></span></div>
</blockquote>
The Film Clubs is a multi-city collective. Each local group holds regular meetings and plans, or collaborates on, short film projects according to the availability of individual members. Short film project teams often draw from members in multiple city groups. Meeting attendance is free.<br />
<br />
Umbrella web site: <a href="http://thefilmclubs.com/">thefilmclubs.com</a><br />
Related sites: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/thefilmclubs">Facebook.com/TheFilmClubs</a> , <a href="http://www.youtube.com/thefilmclubs">Youtube.com/TheFilmClubs</a> <br />
City-specific sites:<br />
- San Jose: <a href="http://meetup.com/SanJoseFilmClub">meetup.com/SanJoseFilmClub</a> , <a href="http://facebook.com/pages/San-Jose-Film-Club/212285832229432">facebook.com/pages/San-Jose-Film-Club/212285832229432</a> <br />
<br />
- San Francisco: <a href="http://meetup.com/SanFranciscoFilmClub">meetup.com/SanFranciscoFilmClub</a><br />
- Santa Cruz: <a href="http://www.meetup.com/SantaCruzFilmClub">meetup.com/SantaCruzFilmClub</a><br />
- Berkeley: <a href="http://www.meetup.com/BerkeleyFilmClub">meetup.com/BerkeleyFilmClub</a><br />
- Carmel (does this count as "Bay Area"?): <a href="http://meetup.com/CarmelFilmClub">meetup.com/CarmelFilmClub</a><br />
- Monterey: <a href="http://meetup.com/MontereyFilmClub">meetup.com/MontereyFilmClub</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>4. Silicon Valley LA Film Collective</b></span><br />
<br />
Their self-description:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">"The Silicon Valley LA Film Collective is a group of volunteer filmmakers
who produce short films (3-5 minutes each) on an ongoing basis, with
the goal of perfecting skills, sharing cross-functional knowledge and
producing quality final projects. The group is modeled after Dawn
Fields’ LA Film Collective and was created by members of that original
organization. As such, an additional goal of the collective is share
people and knowledge between LA and Silicon Valley, to grow a strong and
lasting core of film makers, writers, actors, production personnel and
ultimately indie investors from both regions."</span></blockquote>
This is a new group starting up as of January 2014.<br />
<br />
Web site: <a href="http://meetup.com/Silicon-Valley-LA-Film-Collective">meetup.com/Silicon-Valley-LA-Film-Collective</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>5. Movie Makers Unite</b></span><br />
<br />
Their self-description of a meeting:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span id="eventWhy">Create fun and exciting short films</span>. Pitch Your Idea. Build A team. Set the deadlines.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Agenda:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> 30 minutes Networking and MMU Plans and intro.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> 60 minutes Go around the table:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Any one with a 'completed script' will pitch first and get first priority.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> 1-2 hours Group or Team discussions. </span>
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Then open for networking.</span></blockquote>
As of January 2014, it's unclear if this group is still functioning, although some Meetup events do appear to be scheduled for early 2014. The Meetup page content appears to have been most recently updated in 2012, the web site was most recently updated in 2011, and the Facebook link from the Meetup page is broken.<br />
<br />
Web site: <a href="http://meetup.com/moviemakersunite">meetup.com/moviemakersunite</a><br />
Related sites: <a href="http://moviemakersunite.org/">moviemakersunite.org</a> , <a href="http://youtube.com/siliwoodmoviemakers">youtube.com/siliwoodmoviemakers</a>Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778422629718278471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-409138035261700794.post-31327125161920003342014-01-12T10:59:00.000-08:002014-01-12T13:42:58.667-08:00Other resource pages- Bay Area Women in Film and Media, resources page: <a href="http://bawifm.org/links">bawifm.org/links</a><br />
<br />
- <a href="http://www.reeldirectory.com/">Reel Directory</a>, a directory of professional film production services in northern California. Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778422629718278471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-409138035261700794.post-72965677744795177072014-01-12T09:00:00.001-08:002014-04-23T17:06:01.657-07:00Single-subject or non-production groupsThese San Francisco Bay Area groups focus on a single subject, or on a portion of the filmmaking process other than production.<br />
<br />
- <a href="http://www.meetup.com/Producer-Foundry/">Producer Foundry</a> is an organization which, as of April 2014, is organizing monthly networking and speaker events in San Francisco.<br />
<br />
What they say:<br />
<i>We are a hub for filmmakers who think like entrepreneurs (or who WANT to
think like entrepreneurs), creating projects that make money. We are a
place to gather and talk about the challenges of living and working in
independent film, and to meet people who can help you overcome those
challenges.</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
And here's their description of their monthly "Entreproducers" meetings:<br />
<i>A monthly gathering of Entrepreneurial filmmakers in the Bay Area. The
Townhall is all about getting Filmmakers, Marketers, and Business people
talking and networking... The Townhalls are for sharing useful information, and meeting
useful people to grow your team and your company to the next level.</i><br />
<br />
Web site: <a href="http://meetup.com/Producer-Foundry">meetup.com/Producer-Foundry</a><br />
<br />
- <a href="http://sfcutters.com/">SFcutters</a> is a San Francisco Bay Area editing (NLE) group, originally focused on Final Cut Pro, but now including Adobe Premiere as well. The group has been in existence for over 10 years, and holds regular meetings.<br />
Web site: <a href="http://sfcutters.com/">sfcutters.com</a><br />
Related sites: <a href="http://sfcutters.org/">sfcutters.org</a> (not the same content)<br />
<br />
- <a href="http://www.meetup.com/Bay-Area-HDSLR/">Bay Area HSDLR</a> meets periodically in San Francisco. Their description: "This group discusses techniques and equipment related to HDSLR photo and
video production. Anyone who is interested in the latest and greatest
technology should join. We can learn from each other, swap stories and
even equipment."<br />
Web site: <a href="http://meetup.com/Bay-Area-HDSLR">meetup.com/Bay-Area-HDSLR</a><br />
<br />
- The (Adobe) Creative Cloud User Group of San Jose "was established to provide professionals in San Jose and surrounding
areas a venue for networking and learning about the latest in Adobe
Software."<br />
Web site: <a href="http://meetup.com/creativecloudsanjose">meetup.com/creativecloudsanjose</a><br />
Related sites: <a href="http://twitter.com/creativecloudsj">twitter.com/creativecloudsj</a> , <a href="http://facebook.com/pages/San-Jose-CA/Creative-Suite-User-Group-San-Jose/186190365910">facebook.com/pages/San-Jose-CA/Creative-Suite-User-Group-San-Jose/186190365910</a> <br />
<br />
<br />Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778422629718278471noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-409138035261700794.post-88600192065856455812014-01-12T09:00:00.000-08:002014-01-12T12:48:59.753-08:00Training and classes- <a href="http://www.bavc.org/">Bay Area Video Coalition</a> in San Francisco offers a variety of <a href="http://bavc.org/take-classes/take-classes/browse-classes-landing">classes</a>.<br />
<br />
- <a href="http://www.kmvt15.org/">KMVT Mountain View</a> community access TV offers <a href="http://kmvt15.org/learn/classcatalog.html">classes</a>, with a focus on the skills necessary to run their TV studio equipment.<br />
<br />
- <a href="http://berkeleydigital.com/">Berkeley Digital Film Institute</a> offers a wide variety of classes.<br />
<br />
- Documentary filmmaker <a href="http://www.bobelfstrom.com/">Bob Elfstrom</a> occasionally offers a 3-day workshop: "<a href="http://www.bobelfstrom.com/BE_workshop_info.htm">Shooting and Lighting for Documentary Films</a>"<br />
<br />
- The UCLA Extension program offers some of its <a href="https://www.uclaextension.edu/entertainmentstudies/Pages/default.aspx">Entertainment Studies classes</a> in an online-only format, so you don't need to be in the Los Angeles area to take the classes. You can download the full <a href="https://www.uclaextension.edu/entertainmentstudies/Pages/PDFs/EntertainmentStudies.pdf">Entertainment Studies section of their catalog</a> and look for the online classes.Brucehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778422629718278471noreply@blogger.com0